Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The membership of the Providence Teachers Union will vote on a new contract, the first one in five years, Thursday morning at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet in Cranston.

The contract offer spans three years, from Sept. 1, 2007, through Aug. 31, 2010.
It calls for 1-percent pay increases retroactive to Sept. 4, 2008 and Jan. 30, 2009. The teachers would receive an additional 1-percent raise on Thursday, according to an e-mail from a union delegate.

Teachers have been working without a contract since August 2007, when the 2,100-member union's last contract expired. The parties said that they were close to reaching an agreement early this winter, until Mayor David N. Cicilline surprised both sides in January with his announcement that the city was switching health insurers from Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island to United HealthCare of New England.

The city unions fought the decision and the dispute has not been resolved. The new proposal increases the amount that teachers pay for their health care. Under the terms of the existing contract, teachers pay 10 percent of their health-care premiums.

According to the old contract -- the two sides have continued to observe the terms of that pact -- teachers hired prior to the 2004-05 school year pay $513 annually for individual coverage and $1,375 for family coverage.

Under the proposed new contract, teachers hired prior to the 2004-05 school year would pay $867 for individual coverage and $2,316 for families.

Teachers hired after Sept. 1, 2004, who are covered by United Health, not Blue Cross, pay $355 for individual coverage and $937 per year for family coverage. That wouldn't change with the new contract.

Emergency room coverage would jump from $25 per visit to $100, with a $200 cap per person and a $300 cap per family.

Supt. Tom Brady and Robert Wise, president of the Providence School Board, declined to comment on the new contract until after the teachers vote on Thursday. Union leaders could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The e-mail from the union delegate says, "I believe that it puts money in our pockets and keeps our health care stable. The agreement is simple. We are voting on the pay increase and the medical as outlined. This has been a long time in the making and I think it is the best offer we've had in awhile."

The proposal does not grapple with thornier issues like teacher evaluations and the way in which teachers are hired. Both the union and the school administration have been struggling for months to sign a "bridge" contract like the one being voted on Thursday, which would be limited to pay raises and health benefits, leaving the larger issues to later negotiations.

So far, only one of the city's five major unions -- Local 1033 of the Laborers International Union of North America, which represents City Hall employees and teacher assistants -- has signed an agreement with the city. Faced with a $17-million deficit for the current fiscal year, Cicilline's supplemental budget calls for salary, health-care and pension concessions from all city employees, including the unions.

 Tags  Mayor David N. Cicilline Providence teachers contract

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